Jailed Jammu and Kashmir Lok Sabha MP Engineer Rashid was allegedly assaulted by transgender inmates inside Delhi's Tihar Jail following an argument, prison sources told. As a result, Engineer sustained only minor injuries, jail authorities further said.
Prison sources dismissed reports of any murder conspiracy as unfounded, adding that Rashid is currently housed with three transgender inmates in Jail Number 3.
Engineer Rashid is in jail since 2019 in connection with an alleged terror funding case. Rashid, who is the founder of the Awami Ittehad Party, defeated Omar Abdullah and Sajjad Gani Lone from the Baramulla constituency during the Lok Sabha elections last year.
He had won the Lok Sabha polls from Baramulla by a margin of 2,04,142 votes. Rashid had earlier been granted custody parole during both the Monsoon and Budget sessions this year.
The Baramulla MP is facing trial in a terror funding case over allegations that he funded separatists and terror groups in Jammu and Kashmir.
He has been lodged in Delhi's Tihar Jail since 2019 after the NIA arrested him in the 2017 terror funding case. He was granted interim bail for one month in September last year to campaign in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly election.
After being chargesheeted in October 2019, an NIA court framed charges against Rashid and others in March 2022 under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 121 (waging war against the government), and 124A (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code and for offences relating to terrorist acts and terror funding under UAPA.
Source: India Today